The 1968 Chicago Protests - The Battle of Michigan Avenue | 1
American History Tellers
Wondery
4.7 • 18.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2019
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A special series with our sibling show Legal Wars. The 1968 Democratic National Convention attracted demonstrators from all over the country. Thousands of students, Yippies, Peaceniks, and other protestors converged in Chicago to push for an end to the Vietnam War. But the city’s police had other plans and the would-be peaceful protests erupted into violence. News programs broadcast the clashes live to a nation of stunned viewers at home. Investigators called it a “police riot,” but five months later, the newly elected President Nixon found someone else to blame.
Check out Legal Wars for more stories behind America’s most famous courtroom battles.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music. |
| 0:05.6 | Download the app today. |
| 0:08.4 | From Wondry, I'm Lindsay Graham and this is American History Tellers, our history, your story. |
| 0:30.0 | On this show, we look at the events, the times and the people that shape our country. |
| 0:44.5 | Wondry's podcast Legal Wars explores the stories behind America's most famous courtroom battles. |
| 0:51.0 | The fight for free speech on the internet, the Rodney King trial that set off the LA riots. |
| 0:56.0 | In this special series, we're bringing our two podcasts together to investigate the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the legendary courtroom clash that followed the trial of the Chicago 8. |
| 1:08.5 | Joining me to tell this story is the host of Legal Wars Hill Harbor. |
| 1:12.5 | Hey, Lindsay, great to be here and I'm very excited to share this story with your listeners. |
| 1:18.0 | The trial of the Chicago 8 goes back further into history than we've ever gone before on Legal Wars to 1968. |
| 1:25.5 | It was a time of immense change, activism and turmoil. |
| 1:29.5 | Both the American History Tellers series on the Civil Rights Movement and the history of political parties covered this period. |
| 1:35.5 | But it was in Chicago, August 1968, that race, politics and protest collided violently. |
| 1:44.0 | For five days and nights, thousands of protesters were gassed and beaten by police. |
| 1:49.5 | Hundreds were injured and it was all broadcast live on National Television. |
| 1:55.0 | In the aftermath, a federal grand jury convened to investigate possible criminal charges. |
| 2:00.0 | They concluded their six-month inquiry by charging eight police officers with civil rights violations. |
| 2:06.0 | And eight protest organizers with conspiracy to incite a riot. |
| 2:11.5 | The ensuing trial lasted for months and was a circus from the very first day. |
| 2:17.5 | The defendants used the courtroom to amplify their protests. |
| 2:21.0 | They was so unruly, the presiding judge ordered one defendant gagged and strapped to his chair. |
| 2:27.0 | Testimony was heard from counterculture heroes like Arlo Guthrie, Norman Mailer, Alan Ginsberg and Timothy Leary. |
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